Direct 3D Printing of Reactive Agitating Impellers for the Convenient Treatment of Various Pollutants in Water

Abstract

Mass transfer plays a key role in the diffusion‐controlled heterogeneous reactions. Varied efforts have been made to design the structure of catalysts and reactors to optimize the diffusion process. Herein, a facile strategy is reported to construct highly reactive agitating impeller (denoted as AI) by employing 3D printing and a facile surface activation treatment. On the one hand, experimental results and numerical simulation analysis reveal that the 3D printing AI with appropriate structure can not only effectively eliminate external diffusion but also conveniently be separated from heterogeneous reaction systems. On the other hand, surface activation helps to significantly promote the chemical reactivity of AI for Fenton and galvanic replacement reaction, which are used to treat organic and inorganic pollutants in water, respectively. Benefiting from these cooperative merits, the integrated catalytic AI delivers a catalytic performance toward Fenton reactions as high as a homogeneous catalyst, and the removal rate for heavy metal ions is nearly 100% through galvanic replacement. This 3D printing with surface engineering strategy should also be extended to other applications, and provide new field for preparing efficient and durable heterogeneous catalysts in a more economical way.

3D‐Structured Monoliths of Nanoporous Polymers by Additive Manufacturing

“…For example, Sorkski et al used FDM to print an active catalyst for the photo degradation of Rhodamine 6G by incorporating TiO 2 nanoparticles into ABS filament . Another recent example by Sun et al is the catalysis of the Fenton oxidation of aromatic molecules by a catalytic monolith made from a PLA filament containing an iron catalyst . Zhu et al manufactured hierarchical nanoporous gold monoliths .…”

A Review on New 3-D Printed Materials’ Geometries for Catalysis and Adsorption: Paradigms from Reforming Reactions and CO2 Capture

“…An example in this direction is reported by Skorski et al [125] who added TiO 2 into the ABS filament towards 3D printing of a composite structure which was used for the photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine 6G. Another example comes from Sun et al [126] who used an iron-containing PLA matrix to print structured impellers for the Fenton oxidation of aromatic compounds. To expose the Fe active sites and make them accessible to the reactants, base and H 2 O 2 etching was applied.…”

Customizable heterogeneous catalysts: From 3D printed designs to mesoporous materials

“…The catalytic sites are first exposed and oxidized prior use in the Fenton reaction. Reproduced with permission from Sun et al 67 On a different approach, incorporating catalytic supports into a printable matrix has been performed via robocasting, where a concentrated colloidal suspension (ink) is extruded through a nozzle. [68][69][70][71][72][73] In the first demonstration of printing heterogeneous catalysts, Tubío, et al developed an ink containing Al 2 O 3 dispersed in a mixture of Cu(NO 3 ) 2 , hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, and poly(ethylenimine).…”

“…3D printing of TiO2/ABS composites and their catalytic activity in the degradation of Rhodamine 6G. Reproduced with permission from Skorski et al65 Recently, Sun et al used of an iron-containing PLA filament to print active impellers capable of catalyzing the Fenton oxidation of aromatic molecules 67. Because the iron was not accessible in the printed impellers, the printed polymer was etched with base and hydrogen peroxide to expose the active sites and display catalytic activity.…”